


I Am Not Afraid When You're Here

by TheStoryteller13



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, First Kiss, Hide and Seek, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Season/Series 02, Slow Burn, everythings the same but Hope and Landon aren't in coma's
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-11 09:14:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28468860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStoryteller13/pseuds/TheStoryteller13
Summary: Lizzie and Josie convince their dad to let them stay in the old Forbes cabin for a weekend. They bring along the whole squad.An old cabin in the middle of nowhere, a bunch of teenagers, no adult supervision. . . what could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Lizzie Saltzman, Josie Saltzman/Rafael Waithe, Milton "MG" Greasley/Kaleb Hawkins
Comments: 13
Kudos: 84





	1. Here's Another Life (Perfect For Forgetting)

“Come on, Daddy, please?” Lizzie whines, half a second away from stomping her foot in the middle of his office. She resists the urge, because she’s not a child anymore, and instead crosses her arms. 

Josie nods in agreement. “Yeah, just because you have to stay for the kids who have nowhere to go, doesn’t me _we_ should have to.”

Alaric glares at that; opens his mouth to say something but is interrupted. 

“Besides!” Lizzie adds, “after everything we’ve been through this year, don’t we deserve to have a break?” 

Alaric shakes his head, folds his hands on his desk and sighs. “I am not letting you two go to some random cabin all alone!” 

“We won’t be alone.” Lizzie tells him. “Hope will be there. So, you know, _if_ anything bad happens, she’ll step in to save the day.” 

That seems to appease him on that issue. “Still, where would you even go?” 

“Grandpa’s cabin. We used to go there all the time, remember? Mom said we could stay there.” Josie shrugs. “But she said you knew where the keys were, so we’d have to get your approval first. She _also_ said that a girl’s trip would be good for us.” 

“You talked to Caroline?” Alaric looks perplexed, like he doesn’t like the idea of them going behind his back. Or maybe he doesn’t like that Caroline didn’t talk to him. 

Josie just nods, keeps her ground, says, “Yeah. And she also said that we’re almost eighteen and you can’t keep us locked behind the gates of the school our whole lives. We can handle going to a cabin for a few days on our own.” 

Alaric is quiet for a moment, contemplating. Then he sighs and nods. “Okay. But only _if_ you get Hope on board. And _only_ for the weekend.” he says, in a tone that implies Hope wouldn’t be caught dead doing anything resembling fun, that getting her on board will be next to impossible. 

Lizzie brightens, trying to contain her excitement. 

“Please,” Josie smiles too. “If anyone were able to get Hope to do a girl’s trip, it would be Lizzie.” 

#

“I’m thinking alcohol.” Lizzie says, looping her arm around Josie’s once they’re a safe distance from their father’s office. “And then probably nail polish and something else totally cliched.” 

Josie nods thoughtfully. “I have a request.” she says. 

Lizzie raises an eyebrow in prompt, so Josie continues. “I’d like to invite Rafael.” 

Lizzie gasps dramatically. “Josie! Are you suggesting we sneak _boys_ onto our girl’s trip?” she smiles mischievously and nudges Josie playfully. 

“That is exactly what I’m suggesting.” Josie smiles back equally mischievously.

Lizzie’s playful expression drops. “We can’t invite him.” 

“What, why?” Josie’s face falls. 

“If we invite Raf he’s going to invite Landon.” Lizzie makes a face. “I do _not_ want to deal with nerd references for a whole weekend.” 

Josie frowns. “Is it really so bad if Landon comes? He doesn’t have anywhere else to go for break.” 

Lizzie rolls her eyes and sighs. “Fine. But we’ll have to invite someone else to even things out.” 

“Okay,” Josie is smiling again now. “So, MG.” 

Lizzie nods, then gets a little more excited. “Yes! Okay, you go pack, I’ll go get Hope. You rally the boys and make sure Dad doesn’t see them?” 

Josie nods as Lizzie bounces off enthusiastically. 

“Hope!” Lizzie says loudly as she barges into Hope’s room. 

Hope jumps. “What, is there a monster?” she looks around, still holding a paintbrush in her hand.

“There’s no monster.” Lizzie laughs. “But you need to pack a bag. We are going on a trip!” 

“Where? Why?” Hope asks, setting her brush down and wiping her hands on a spare rag. 

“My families cabin. For winter break. Well, for the weekend.” Lizzie says, like it’s obvious. 

Secretly, Lizzie is nervous. She knew her dad would never let them go alone and so she had purposefully left Hope out of the original idea so he would insist they bring her. Lizzie’s had an ulterior motive for this whole trip from the start: to finally confess her feelings for Hope. After everything that had happened with Malivore and Josie. . . Lizzie just wants a quiet, crisis free couple of days to confess her feelings and let the pieces fall as they will. 

Hope looks uninterested. Lizzie almost panics but she calms herself and doubles down. “Come on, Hope. Don’t you think you deserve a break?” 

Hope chews on her bottom lip. Lizzie thinks it’s cute. Eventually, Hope nods. “Okay. I’ll come.” 

Lizzie squeals happily. “Okay, okay. You pack and then meet us outside in ten minutes.” 

“Us?” Hope asks, but Lizzie is already out the door. 

#

“Be safe. If anything happens, call me.” Alaric is saying. 

“Don’t worry Dr. Saltzman. If anything happens, I’ve got a black-belt in monster fighting.” Hope says, her tone bored, but a hint of a joke there too. 

He tries to laugh but doesn’t quite make it. “Seriously,” he says. “Call me if anything happens.” 

Lizzie and Josie hug him goodbye while Hope climbs into the middle seat of Alaric’s minivan. The other two climb in as well and wave him off before starting to drive. 

Lizzie asks from the driver’s seat, “So where are the boys?” 

“Down the road. I thought Dad would watch us till we left the gates, so I told them to wait out there.” Josie explains. 

“Smart.” Lizzie smiles. 

“Who else is coming?” Hope asks, sounding like she’s regretting her decision already. 

“Just Rafael, Landon, and MG.” Lizzie says nonchalantly. Then she gets to where the boys are waiting and, less enthusiastically, amends: “and Kaleb. . .” 

Lizzie turns to Josie, her eyes questioning and slightly angry. “Josie?”

Josie just shrugs in her ‘I don’t know how this happened’ way. So Lizzie quietly voices her concerns: “what is he doing here? He wasn’t part of the plan.” 

“What?” Kaleb asks as the boys pile into the back and middle seats. “Like I was going to leave my boy in your monster-magnet hands.” Kaleb shakes his head and _tsks._

MG and Kaleb end up in the back row, while Raf and Landon squeeze in the middle next to Hope. 

Hope turns her head back to look at Kaleb and gives him a sarcastic smile when she says, “to be fair, Landon is technically the only “monster magnet” here.” 

“Ouch.” Landon frowns. 

“She’s not wrong.” Josie points out as Lizzie starts to drive again. 

“I know.” Landon shakes his head and smiles. 

“Okay, well now all of our games are going to be messed up by the uneven amount of people.” Lizzie says sourly. 

“That’s alright.” Rafael says. “One team will just have to have three.” 

“Or we could play games that don’t involve teams.” MG offers. 

“We’ll figure it out.” Josie tells her sister. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Lizzie glares at the road. 

The drive doesn’t take very long. They trade off requesting songs to play from Lizzie’s Spotify account (though she grumbles at first about how it’s going to mess up her perfect algorithm), joke around while the snow falls softly outside the windows, and eventually everyone starts to lighten up. Even Hope joins in with the jokes. Lizzie seems to relax a bit and let’s go of her idea of how this trip was going to go. 

Lizzie keeps glancing in the rearview mirror to look at Hope. She looks peaceful, thoughtful. Lizzie thinks she looks more calm than she has in the past few weeks— maybe the past few years. It makes Lizzie happy, seeing Hope so calm. She wishes she could take Hope away from all the monsters so she could be happy all of the time. 

They pull into the driveway of the Forbes cabin at sunset. There isn’t much snow on the ground, but enough to make the place look like a cozy getaway, and there’s still some falling. There’s a burned shed a little way off from the cabin that draws everyone’s attention from the otherwise welcoming site. 

“My mom told me about that.” Lizzie says, gesturing vaguely to it as she gets her bags from the trunk. “Apparently some ghost trapped this guy in there and set the place on fire.” 

“Oh my god, did anyone die?” Hope asks, shocked, as she places a hand on her stomach. 

Josie shakes her head. “No. They managed to get the guy out, but the shed still burned.” 

“Good.” Kaleb shrugs his bag onto his shoulder. “I don’t need to be staying in some cabin in the woods with a vengeful ghost hanging around. This place already looks shifty enough.” 

“I think it’s cool. Gives the place. . . history.” Rafael says. 

Josie smiles at that. “Come on, I’ll show you to your room.” 

She leads Rafael off into the house, leaving Landon alone with his bag. Kaleb throws his arms around Landon and MG and pushes them forward, saying something about sticking together so as to not be murdered by ghosts. 

Lizzie rolls her eyes and loops her arm with Hope’s. “We should hurry before they get all the good rooms.” 

#

“How long have you had this cabin?” Kaleb asks as he walks around the living room. 

Lizzie shrugs. “I don’t know, a while? It’s my grandpa’s.” 

Kaleb nods. “Mm. Yeah, and y’all never thought to install a TV in here?” 

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “The point of the cabin is to get _away_ from modern day life.” 

“You mean modern day life in the Salvatore School were we ain’t even allowed to have cell-phones?” Kaleb counters. 

Lizzie glares. “Why don’t you go get some firewood from the back of the house?” 

Kaleb puts his hands up in surrender. “Alright, but I’m not going out there alone, so, uh, MG?” 

MG beams as he jumps up to help and the two of them make their way out. 

“Oh, sweet!” Landon says excitedly. 

“What is it?” Hope asks, leaning back on the couch to see what he’s discovered. 

“Nothing!” he says, but he’s standing in front of a cabinet full of CD’s that even Lizzie and Josie didn’t know existed. He puts a CD in the player and out of the speakers comes music no one else but Raf seems to know. 

Lizzie lets it play, though Josie gives her a confused look when she doesn’t jump up to turn off what must sound like awful noise to her. Lizzie just breathes in and decides that any music is better than silence, and then she gets up to see what’s in the fridge. 

Rafael crosses the room and extends a hand to Josie. “May I have this dance?” 

Josie smiles shyly but takes his hand and follows him to the middle of the living room where they dance very badly with Landon. Hope rolls her eyes and then gets up to make her way to the kitchen.

“I thought you had a whole perfect night planned?” she asks as she sits down at one of the barstools at the kitchen counter. 

“I did.” Lizzie shakes her head. She has a pitcher of juice on the counter and is setting out cups for all of them. “But the plan has gone quickly awry, so I’m improvising.” 

“I think that’s a new one for you.” Hope notes. 

“Well I guess that means I’m growing as a person.” Lizzie jokes as she roots around in the cupboards around the kitchen. Until, “Ah-ha!” she pulls down a bottle of something alcoholic that was hidden behind boxes of cereal. 

Kaleb and MG return with the firewood, then, and Kaleb immediately scrunches his face in disgust. 

“What the hell are we listening to?” he asks, eying Landon, Raf, and Josie dancing off to the side. 

“I think you found that just in time.” Hope nods to the bottle in Lizzie’s hand and then gives her a wink. 


	2. Will You Take Me? Can I Hide There?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang decides to play hide and seek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think there's a lake near this cabin but I put one in here anyway because it's my fic and I make the rules.

“Let’s play Never Have I Ever!” this idea is met by groans from everyone else in the party. Lizzie glares a bit at the rest of them. “Well, what then? You’ve shot down _all_ of my ideas.” 

They’ve gotten the fire going now and the music Landon picked out has been replaced by something Josie found. Lizzie mixed a few drinks for those who wanted it and now they’re just trying to figure out what to do. 

“Nothing that requires drinking.” Hope says resolutely. 

Lizzie rolls her eyes fondly. “Okay, no drinking games.” 

“Yeah, and nothing that’s in some cliched teen drama.” Landon gets a horrified look on his face. 

“Landon, that’s _all_ the games.” Lizzie huffs. 

“Why don’t we play something simple?” Rafael suggests. 

“Like what?” Josie leans toward him. 

“Hide and seek!” MG offers excitedly. 

“Childish.” Lizzie says simply. 

“No, no, we could make it different.” MG continues. “We can hide anywhere in the cabin, even out of it to a certain degree, and then use our powers to make it harder.” 

Lizzie narrows her eyes as she thinks about it. 

“No spells are off limits?” Hope asks, her mind clearly spinning, thinking of all the spells she could use to misdirect the seeker. 

“No spells are off limits.” MG confirms. 

“And vamp speed to get away from the seeker?” Kaleb asks. 

MG nods at that too. 

“Wha—hey, now, that seems unfair. What am I going to do, burn up?” Landon looks perplexed. 

“You’ll be the seeker.” Lizzie tells him. 

“Oh, so the one with the least amount of powers has to go up against you all using yours?” he tilts his head. 

“Come on. It’ll be fun. And you’re only seeker for the first round.” Josie says, trying to make him feel better. 

“Okay, fine.” Landon relents. 

He stands up, faces one of the walls, closes his eyes, and starts to count. 

#

“ _10, 9, 8. . .”_

As soon as Landon starts counting Kaleb and MG speed off in different directions, leaving Hope, Lizzie, Rafael, and Josie to clumsily run into each other for a moment before figuring out where they’re going. Hope and Lizzie run off up the stairs and Josie starts heading toward the door before she notices Raf looking around in a panic. 

Rafael doesn’t know the layout of the cabin and doesn’t have the first idea where a good hiding spot would be. Josie doubles back, grabs his hand, and then tugs him toward the door. Once they’re outside Josie closes the door as quietly as she can and then nods for Raf to follow her into the woods. 

She takes them near the burned down shed to hide behind it. They both duck down to be out of sight and then Josie turns around. They have a perfect view of the sunset over the lake from here and Josie likes the quiet. 

“I don’t think they’ll ever find us out here.” Raf says, giving one last look toward the door before turning around to look at the sunset with Josie. 

“That’s kind of the point.” Josie says. 

Josie is starting to think this whole thing was a bad idea. She’d wanted to invite Raf because. . . well, even with all the weirdness, she still kind of has a crush on him. She wanted to have a moment out here to figure out her feelings and to see if he was interested. But now she’s out in the cold and she doesn’t know how to even go about talking about any of that. Instead she just wraps her arms around herself and shivers. 

“You cold?” Raf asks. 

“Just a little.” Josie shakes her head. 

“Here.” he strips off the sweatshirt he’d been wearing and hands it to her. 

“Won’t you be cold?” she asks as he does this. 

He shakes his head. “I don’t know if it’s the wolf in me, but I’ve found I don’t get cold easily these days.” 

Josie nods and takes the sweatshirt, and it smells like him. Like soft earth, grass after it’s just rained, and all the weight of all the decisions he deems mistakes. (Josie doesn’t actually smell that last one, but she sees it in his eyes). 

“Hey, I wanted to apologize to you.” he looks at her, with those soft, sad brown eyes, and Josie wants to forgive him of anything he feels he’s at fault for. 

“For what?” Josie asks with a small shake of her head. 

“Cutting you out after you voted Landon out last year.” Josie has to take a moment to remember what he’s even talking about. It seems so small, so far away, in comparison to the events they went through this year. 

“You don’t have to apologize for that.” Josie shakes her head fully now. “You were just trying to keep your brother with you.” 

“And you were just trying to keep your family safe.” he points out. 

“Yeah, well, we can see how good a job I do at that. . .” Josie looks away, black hair and dark magic flash through her memories. She pushes them from her thoughts. 

“Hey, Clarke tricked you. All that dark magic making you do those things wasn’t who you truly are.” he tells her, then he takes her hand lightly when she doesn’t look at him. 

She turns her eyes back to him and finds sincerity there. Kindness. The kind of look that tells her he’s not just saying these things to make her feel better. She squeezes his hand and smiles. Maybe this wasn’t such a bad idea after all. 

#

“ _7, 6, 5. . .”_

Lizzie makes a beeline for the upstairs bathroom. There’s a little nook there between the wall and a tall cupboard where they store their extra towels and Lizzie squeezes herself in there. She quiets her breathing from running up the stairs and then waits. Downstairs she can hear Landon finish off counting and then his footsteps as he comes up the stairs. 

For extra safety, Lizzie whispers, “invisique.” And then she’s hidden from the world. Which turns out to be a good idea because Landon comes into the bathroom and looks around with a sigh. He checks a few places that seem like hiding spots and then he leaves. 

Lizzie smirks and follows him out of the bathroom, keeping her footsteps silent. She trails after him into the hall for a bit before he stops. 

“I know somebody is messing with me.” he says as he looks around the hall. 

Just then the closet door next to Lizzie opens and Hope grabs her, pulls her in, and then quietly closes the door again. The two of them wait until they hear his footsteps retreat before Lizzie drops the invisibility spell. 

“How did you know I was out there?” Lizzie asks. 

Hope shrugs. “Magic detection spell.” 

“Ah.” Lizzie says. 

The closet that they’re in is small. Far too small for two people. They keep bumping up against each other and then having to lean away as best they can. The light is off but even in the dark Lizzie can see the shimmering of Hope’s eyes and the curve of her lips. She can feel Hope’s body warmth and every so often their fingertips brush against each other. Landon is still wandering around the bedrooms upstairs.

“You know, you never told me why you and Landon broke up. . .” Lizzie says quietly. “And as your best friend, I find that insulting.” 

Hope shakes her head and Lizzie can just barely make out her features smiling. Or maybe that’s just what Lizzie convinces herself she can see. 

“Oh, you know. With Kai’s ultimatum and that simulation. . . I’ll love Landon forever but he’s always going to want to be the hero and that’s always going to put him in danger. I just can’t go through that kind of pain. Not again.” Hope explains. 

“You need someone a little more. . . selfish.” Lizzie offers. 

“Yeah, something like that.” Hope tells her. Lizzie can feel the shift as she lifts her chin to look at Lizzie in the dark. 

There is a moment, it lasts only a few seconds, but seems to stretch on forever, where Lizzie can see Hope’s face in perfect clarity. She can’t really, of course, because it’s dark in the closet, but for a moment she feels like she can. Hope’s eyes are looking into her, asking a question Lizzie can only say yes to. And Lizzie does say yes, in the silence that has wrapped itself around them. She leans forward an inch, she steps forward just a bit. Her knee bumps against Hope’s thigh.

Hope Mikaelson has hands toughened by years of fighting but they feel soft on Lizzie’s cheeks when Hope grabs her there and pulls her down into a kiss. 

#

“ _4, 3, 2. . . “_

MG hasn’t the faintest clue where to go first, so he goes to the kitchen and crouches down behind the counters. But as Landon starts to get the bottom half of the numbers he panics and decides the kitchen isn’t the best place to hide so he speeds to the closet under the stairs. Landon finishes his counting and MG listens the creaking of the stairs as he walks up them. 

And then he notices all the spiderwebs in the closet and the web he just walked into and he shivers, trying to wipe off the webs as he opens the door and trips on his own shoes. He crashes to the floor and the door bangs shut. Thankfully, Landon doesn’t seem to hear it. Still, MG rushes up the stairs just in case he _did_ hear it and decides to investigate. 

Landon is in the room at the end of the hall so MG ducks into the nearest room he can find. The door is already open, so he doesn’t close it when he steps inside, just backs into the room and looks around for a good hiding spot. 

And then something grabs his ankle and he nearly screams. Fortunately, he keeps quiet, and when he sees that it’s Kaleb grabbing him from under the bed. MG kneels down and finds Kaleb with a hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. 

“What are you doing? You could have got me caught!” MG whispers. 

“With all that racket you were making downstairs; I’m surprised you haven’t already been caught!” Kaleb shakes his head. 

MG glares, and then he slips under the bed, too. 

“Whoa— hey, man, get your own hiding spot!” Kaleb pushes playfully but firmly against his shoulder to try and get him out, but MG holds his ground. 

“Shh! Do you want to get caught?” MG pushes him back, just as playfully. 

They quiet down then and listen to the sound of Landon’s footsteps around the upstairs. The bed is raised so there’s enough space for them to lay under it comfortably. MG looks over at Kaleb beside him. He’s tapping his fingers against his stomach and he seems bored; he was probably hoping this trip would be something more exciting. 

“Thanks for coming with me.” MG says quietly. 

Kaleb looks over to him. “Of course. I’d never leave you to the wolves alone.” 

“No, I know. You’ve always got my back, and I’m grateful. I just think I needed some backup here.” MG says. 

“Why? Cause you killed Landon last year? Or because Raf _almost_ killed you? Or because Josie nearly desiccated you? Or because Lizzie kissed you and still hasn’t said anything about it?” Kaleb says all this with a fox’s smile and MG knows that he means well. 

But, well, _yeah_. How do you spend a weekend with someone who killed you? Who tried to kill you? In his head MG knows that all is forgiven, but he doesn’t talk to Landon or Raf nearly as much as he should (that’s on him, he thinks— he should really be putting in more of an effort with them) so how can he really be sure that everything’s okay? 

And Lizzie? MG doesn’t even want to _think_ about her. About their kiss or how it was everything he’d ever wanted or how he isn’t sure he wants it anymore or that he isn’t sure he ever really did in the first place. Now he’s thinking about the vampire beside him— how they spent a whole summer together and how perfect it was in hindsight. But if he’d just convinced himself that he wanted Lizzie when he didn’t really, how can he be sure that he wants _this_? 

“Yeah. . .” MG laughs softly. 

“I’m just messing with you.” Kaleb bumps their shoulders together. “But, seriously, we’re family; I’d go anywhere with you.” 

Doesn’t matter any of his thoughts or feelings because. . . _that—_ ‘family’. Kaleb sees him just past friendship but just before _more_. If ‘friend’ and ‘more’ are even in the same solar system. Could be that _friend_ and _family_ are two moons circling Kaleb and MG and that elusive _more_ is so far out of reach that it cannot be gotten to without a spaceship and a dozen years. 

Kaleb is Iron Man and MG is Batman and they share similarities— could even crossover occasionally— but they will never coexist in the same universe. Not the way that MG wants. Thinks he wants. Might want. 

“You okay?” Kaleb’s hand falls to the space between them, his knuckles brushing MG’s. Was that on purpose? An accident? 

“I’m fine.” MG says. He doesn’t pull his hand away. 

“You sure? You seem a little. . .” Kaleb’s hand presses more firmly against MG’s. _Accident or not?_ “In your head, is all.” 

Kaleb seems to brush his fingers against his and MG swallows. Is he messing with him? Does he know what’s been going on in his head? Is he a mind reader now? MG wouldn’t put it past him. Kaleb has always seemed to have this sixth sense for seeing straight through him— to the very heart of him. MG brushes back, delicately, enough for it to be construed as an accident if needed. 

“Oh, you know me. I’ve got too many thoughts for my own good.” MG shakes his head. 

“Yeah. I know.” 

“I’d yell at you two for being so loud,” Landon interrupts them, “but you’re the only ones I’ve found so far.” 

“Damn. I thought you were going to wander around up here for hours.” Kaleb says. He’s moved his hand— MG can feel the absence of it. 

Landon sighs and slips under the bed with them. Kaleb and MG move over so he can fit. He says, “It’s not my fault this game is rigged against me.” 

“Lizzie and Hope are in the closet together down the hall.” MG offers helpfully. 

“I heard Raf and Josie sneak outside.” Kaleb says. 

“Thanks.” Landon nods. He folds his arms around himself. 

“I’m sorry, I should have recommended a better game.” MG says. 

Landon shakes his head and looks at him, his eyes soft and more sad than anything else. “Nah. I just shouldn’t have come. It was stupid of me.” 

“Hey, don’t say that!” Kaleb says. He’ shifts so he’s on his side, which is a bit of a squeeze under the bed, but he manages. 

“It’s true.” Landon continues. “I only came because Josie invited Raf and he didn’t want to come alone.” 

“Yeah, and that was the right call— when your brother asks you to back him up you do it. No questions asked. Right MG?” Kaleb looks down at him. 

“Right.” MG nods, but he doesn’t meet Kaleb’s eyes. 

“I wish I could believe you. But now I’m here with two of my ex’s, four people who’ve killed me, _and_ I’m seventh-wheeling.” 

“Well, we can call off the game. And you can spend the rest of the trip with us.” MG offers. 

“Yeah, MG’s feeling the awkward, too.” Kaleb says. 

“Really?” Landon looks at him questioningly. 

MG nods but doesn’t explain further. 

“I meant what I said earlier,” Kaleb says. “We gotta stick together.” 

Landon nods. He seems to see the same sincerity in Kaleb’s eyes that MG often finds. It’s not something most people get a glance of— Kaleb’s too good at hiding himself for that. 

“So. . . that mean we can get out from under this damn bed?” Kaleb asks. 

“ _You_ chose this hiding spot.” MG points out. 

“Yeah, well, it’s gotten too uncomfortable.” Kaleb says. 

“Wanna help me find the others?” Landon asks. 

“Team up? _Hell_ yeah!” MG smiles. 

It’s as the three of them are getting out from under the bed that it happens: the lights in the hall flicker, and then go out. The three of them are left in darkness, without even the hum of electricity in the walls. 


	3. In the Corner of My Eye Shadows Move Ever Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The powers out. . . and something is in the forest. . .

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We interrupt your regularly scheduled relationship drama for a bit of action. (:

“You know, I’m starting to think that you’re right: they’re never going to find us out here.” Josie says. 

She looks antsy, anxious, like she’s waiting for something to happen. Rafael wonders what it is. The sun has set by now, giving way to pale moonlight that shines off the water of the lake. It also shines on her face and lights up her eyes. Rafael has to tell himself not to stare at her for too long. 

“We could always just head back inside.” Raf says. 

Josie shakes her head. “We should wait just a little bit longer. I don’t think Landon’s even checked out here yet.” 

She peeks around the shed to look at the house. “That’s weird.” She says. 

“What?” Raf asks as he peeks around, too. 

Sure enough, it’s weird. The lights in the house are all off. He could have sworn some were still on when they left. 

“Do you think something’s wrong?” he asks. 

“I don’t know. Maybe we should—” there’s a rustling in the trees behind them that cuts her off. 

Rafael tries to focus his senses, to see if he can smell anything more than an animal out there. After a moment he picks up something that smells like death. Everything inside of him urges him to run or to bare his teeth and fight it. Instead he holds out his hand toward Josie. 

“Juice up, there’s something out there.” he tells her. But she doesn’t take his hand, so he turns back to ask her why. 

“I don’t have my powers anymore.” she explains. 

“Why not?” 

“You really have to ask me that? I nearly killed my sister because of my magic!” Josie shakes her head. She doesn’t look scared; she just looks annoyed. And worried. Raf wonders at how she does it. 

There’s another rustling in the woods, closer, louder. Rafael moves closer to Josie, takes her hand and holds it tight as the thing comes closer. . . 

closer. . . 

“Run!”

#

The kiss is like drowning. Lizzie is taller than she is, so she has to lean down, but she’s got her hands on Hope’s waist and it feels like waves crashing into her. Hope is knocked off course, tipped overboard. She’s a small boat without paddles and Lizzie is the storm pulling her under. Hope doesn’t want to be pulled to the surface. 

She pulls away, reluctantly, because there’s something that feels. . . off. 

“What is it?” Lizzie breathes, resting her head against the side of Hope’s. 

“Does something feel weird to you?” Hope asks. 

Lizzie leans back, her hands drop from Hope’s waist. “We’re safe, Hope, there’s not always something dangerous lurking in the shadows.” 

Lizzie reaches up to the light above them and pulls the string. Nothing happens. Lizzie sighs, “the powers out is all.” 

The door opens and Hope instinctively takes a step back, even though there’s no space to step back into. Hope looks over and, in the half-light, she can see that Kaleb is the one who opened the door, but Landon stands beside him and he’s looking from Lizzie to Hope suspiciously. 

“Where’s your circuit breaker?” Kaleb asks. 

“And do you have any flashlights or candles around here?” MG adds. 

Lizzie nods. “Yeah, follow me.” 

Lizzie leads the way and Landon gives Hope one more glance before he catches up to MG and stays by his side while the five of them make their way downstairs. 

“Where’s Jo?” Lizzie opens up a bottom drawer in the kitchen and pulls out two flashlights. 

“Probably still outside with Raf.” Landon says, shoving his hands into his pockets. 

Lizzie hands one of the flashlights to Kaleb before turning to Landon. “Wanna go get them?” 

“Sure.” he shrugs. 

Lizzie points to the back of the cabin. “The breaker’s over there.” 

“I. . . don’t think we should be splitting up.” MG says, but no one listens.

#

“I don’t know what’s wrong with it.” Kaleb grumbles. 

“You can’t get the lights back?” Hope asks, walking over to look at it herself. 

“No, the lights aren’t the problem. Someone probably cut something.” Kaleb explains. 

MG looks around nervously. “You mean someone knows we’re here?” 

Kaleb shuts the box and walks over to him, puts a hand on his shoulder to comfort him. 

“The question is, are they messing with us or trying to kill us?” Hope says and then looks around at the shadows of the house. 

#

“Jo!” Lizzie yells from the deck. “The games over now you can come back inside!” 

Lizzie looks around in the darkness for any sign of movement, but she doesn’t see any. 

“Maybe they’re too far to hear us.” Landon suggests. 

Lizzie nods. “Well come on then.” 

She walks down into the cold night with Landon trailing behind her. He wraps his arms around himself and shivers. 

“Josie!” Lizzie calls again. 

“Raf!” Landon joins in. 

Lizzie checks behind the shed, around the house, and then starts to get worried. 

“I don’t see them.” she says. 

“Raf!” Landon calls, but there’s nothing. “We should get the others.” 

“You’re right.” Lizzie says, and they turn back to the house just in time for something to grab Landon. 

#

“Did you hear that?” Kaleb asks. 

“Hear what?” Hope looks back to him. 

They’re walking the house, slowly, trying to find anyone hidden away. 

“I think I heard screaming outside.” Kaleb shakes his head. 

“Lizzie.” Hope breathes. 

She darts down the stairs, Kaleb and MG following closely behind her, but she comes to a halt at the base. 

“Well, aren’t you a bunch of lost little lambs?” the figure at the bottom of the stairs says with a sickening smile. 

Kaleb instinctively moves in front of MG, keeping close enough to notice if he slips away. Hope just tilts her head and stands up straighter. 

“I think you’re the one who’s lost.” she says. “Who are you?” 

“That’s unimportant.” he says, stepping into a beam of light that shines through the window. 

“Why?” Hope asks. 

“Because you’ll be dead in a moment.” he replies. And then he bares his fangs and his eyes flash with veins underneath. 

Kaleb has to stop himself from laughing. Hope smiles. The man hesitates when he sees they show no fear. 

“Like I said: I think you’re the one who’s lost.” Hope tells him, and he doesn’t know that it’s his final warning. 

Hope blasts him with a spell that sends him hurtling into the wall. He crashes into it and then to the floor with a thud and it takes him a moment to get back to his feet, but by then Kaleb has the poker from the fireplace in his hand and he uses it to hit the vampire across the face. Hope takes one of the wooden chairs from the kitchen and breaks it, giving herself a sharpened end before she walks toward the vamp. 

“Hold him.” she demands, and Kaleb and MG do as she says. 

They pin him to the wall, and she pulls back, almost gets to his heart before he cries out, “we have your friends!” 

Hope stops, narrows her eyes. “Where?” 

“In the woods!” he looks at them with frantic eyes. 

“Are they hurt?” she questions. 

“Not as far as I know! We were going to round you all up and have a feast!” 

Kaleb _tsks._ “Wow, you are just the worst, you know that?”

The vamp suddenly surges forward— and he must be older than them, to, because he manages to break free from MG and Kaleb. But he doesn’t stay to fight, he just speeds out of the house. 

“Chase him!” Hope says, heading for the door. 

#

“Landon!” Lizzie screams. She thinks fast and chucks her flashlight at the retreating figure, who loosens his grip enough for Landon to squirm out of his arms and back toward Lizzie. 

She puts a hand on his shoulder and siphons from him, getting enough power to do a fire spell and set the guy aflame. 

“Are you okay?” she asks him. He nods quickly.

“We should get out of here.” he looks back worriedly at the flaming figure. 

“Yeah.” Lizzie agrees. 

They leave the screaming behind them as they run back toward the house. Just as they get to it a vampire speeds past them, nearly barreling them down, followed by two more. And then Hope, running into them and reaching out to Landon and Lizzie with a look of relief in her eyes. 

“Thank God you guys are okay.” she says. She’s got a hand on both of them. 

“What is going on?” Lizzie asks. 

“Yeah, because Lizzie just set a man on fire and I’m really hoping he wasn’t human.” Landon points back in the direction they came. 

“It’s just some group of vampires— thought we were a bunch of stupid teenagers in the middle of the woods.” Hope explains. 

“And Josie?” Lizzie looks around. 

“We haven’t found her. But we can follow MG and Kaleb after that vampire.” Hope waits only until they nod in agreement before she takes off. 

#

“Jo, you okay?” Raf asks. He looks around to make sure they lost the vampire that was following them and finds nothing but quiet in the forest. 

“I’m fine.” Josie shakes her head. “We should get back to the cabin and make sure the others are safe.” 

She takes one step in that direction and then stumbles. Raf wraps his arms around her and keeps her steady and that’s when he realizes she’s been cut across her stomach. 

“You’re hurt.” he says, rather obviously. 

“It’s nothing. We just have to get back to the others and then I’ll be fine.” she tells him. 

He wants to argue, but she’s right. There’s nothing in the forest that will help them, just the blood of a vampire that’s hopefully waiting back at the cabin. 

“Okay.” he says, thinking quickly. 

“Sorry about your sweatshirt.” Josie says wearily. 

Raf finds a small but sturdy stick from off the ground and then takes a look at his sweatshirt. “Don’t worry about it.” he says as he takes the bottom half of it and rips a strip of fabric off.

He instructs Josie to hold up her shirt and then he wraps the fabric around her abdomen and uses the stick to make a makeshift tourniquet. 

“Better?” he asks. 

Josie nods, but she leans on him as they walk in the direction that seems like the right way. 

“What luck we have, huh?” Rafael tries to joke. 

“Bunch of teenagers go to a cabin in the woods all alone in Mystic Falls?” Josie shakes her head. “We should have seen this coming.” 

“I guess you’re right.” he says. 

They don’t get very far, which is what Raf was afraid of, before the woman that attacked them before is back again. He knows from the rustling in the wood behind them. 

“Where do you kids think you’re going?” she asks. Raf debates whether or not they should start running now. 

“I got you good, little girl.” the vampire taunts. “I could smell you for _miles,_ now.” 

“Raf.” Josie looks up at him and he can see the traces of pain in her features that she tries to hide. “Just leave me. I can fend for myself for a little while and you’ll be faster without me. You could—” 

“No.” he doesn’t even have to think about it. “I’m not leaving you.” 

“But—” 

“Maybe if you still had your magic, but right now? It’s not going to happen.” Rafael states with a finality in his voice he hopes she won’t want to argue with. 

She doesn’t, but maybe that’s more to do with the fact the vampire lady has caught up to them and is now in front of them, cutting them off. There’s nowhere to run anymore— she’d catch up to them too quickly. It was only because she’d been toying with them before that they got away the first time. Rafael growls, trying to intimidate her. 

“Ooh, your boyfriends a wolf, huh?” the vamp smiles. 

And then she attacks. 

Josie stumbles back, out of the way of the fighting, as the vampire lady pounces on Rafael. He doesn’t have much experience fighting but he knows how to throw a punch and how to take one. So Raf holds his ground and grits his teeth and avoids this vampire’s fangs. Thanks to his werewolf side he’s fast and strong and he uses both to keep up with the vampire. But she doesn’t seem to be too strong so Raf is starting to think that she hasn’t been doing this vampire thing very long. He knows people at his school that are stronger than she is. 

Still, she _is_ a vampire, which means while Raf can hold his ground he can’t get the upper hand on her. He’d have a lot more luck if it were closer to the full moon. He gets a few good hits on her— she’s strong and fast but, like him, doesn’t seem to have much experience in fighting. He gets a few good hits in, but she gets a blow to his stomach and elbows him in his chin. 

And then Josie hits her in the back of the head with a rock. It knocks the woman of-kilter, makes her stumble. That gives Rafael enough time to break off a branch from a nearby tree and run it through her chest. She gasps, then falls to the forest floor, and Raf grips his impromptu stake, wraps an arm around Josie’s waist, and then continues toward the cabin. 

#

Kaleb and MG follow the vamp back to his camp. Which might not have been the best idea. 

They’ve made a small clearing their camp and there’s four of them, in total. The one they followed falls into the middle of the camp, where the other three meet him with questions on their lips. He explains everything to them. 

Kaleb notices that Rafael, Josie, Lizzie, and Landon aren’t among them, so he takes it as a sign that these guys either have terrible communication, or the vamp they had was lying when he said his friends had them. That’s a relief. 

“They’re not here. We should—” Kaleb was whispering, but even still vampire hearing can pick up the quietest of noises— especially in a silent forest. 

The vampires in the camp turn their attention to him and MG, eyes zeroing in like birds finding mice in a field. Kaleb curses. MG shifts closer to him. 

“Well, what do we have here?” one of the vampires asks. 

All Kaleb wanted out of this weekend was to relax, have a nice quiet time, not go home for the holidays for once and deal with his crazy ass uncle, Earl. And, well, MG asked him here. Now they’re going to have to fight all four of these vamps on their own and if MG gets hurt Kaleb doesn’t know what he’ll do. 

“I don’t know if we can take them.” MG says nervously. 

“It’s either fight them or distract them until Hope shows up and saves the day.” Kaleb points out. 

MG doesn’t look convinced. In fact, he looks like he’s about to be sick. So Kaleb takes his hand and holds it tight. 

“I’ve got your back.” he says. “Now lets go be heroes.” 

MG nods. Kaleb can see him taking a deep breath to prepare himself for battle. He doesn’t let go of MG’s hand when they step out from behind the bushes that weren’t doing a good job of hiding them in the first place. 

“Isn’t this sweet?” one of the vampires is behind them, must have snuck up there while they were talking. Now he throws his head back and laughs at their surprised faces before kicking Kaleb in the stomach with a blow so strong it sends him back into the clearing and rips him from MG’s grasp. 

It hurts like hell, but Kaleb coughs it off. He stands back up and looks at the three around him like he’s ready to tear them apart— looking at them like he thinks he _could._

“So what are a couple of vamps doing hanging around witches and wolves?” one of them asks. 

“I think they’re from that school.” another whispers. 

The one that showed up behind them has MG by the back of the neck and is dragging him into the clearing. Kaleb wants to tear his throat out, but one of them grabs him to hold him back. 

“You know, that’s what’s wrong with vampires today. All the young ones are getting enrolled into that school and eating rabbits and learning to play nice with werewolves and witches.” the one that has MG is saying with a look of disgust on his face. “They’ve got no backbone, no will to kill, you know?” 

“Hey, man, I’ve been saying the same thing—” Kaleb starts, but the one holding him hits him in the back and Kaleb gets the message.

“What should we do with them, boss?” the one who whispered asks. 

The one who’s got Kaleb is the one who answers. “We kill them.” 

He throws Kaleb, and the other one throws MG, and the two of them end up in the middle of the clearing, back-to-back. 

“I really wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Kaleb says. 

“And why not?” their apparent leader asks. 

“Well, because when our friend finds us, she’s going to kick your ass. If she finds us dead, she’s going to do so much worse.” Kaleb shrugs. 

“Really? What could a teenage girl do to us?” he laughs it off. But Kaleb heard what he didn’t. 

“Do you want to find out?” Hope asks. 

Kaleb smiles and while everyone is distracted by Hope he lunges for the vampire that had MG. He didn’t mean to start the fighting, but that’s what erupts after Kaleb lunges. The clearing breaks off as three of the vampire’s target Hope as the main threat.

Kaleb catches his target off guard but it’s not enough to completely overpower him. The vampire stumbles, gathers himself, then goes immediately for MG. It all happens fast— a blink of an eye to the rest of the world but a lifetime for vampires: MG tries to run, but the vampire gets to him first. He punches MG in the gut, scratches across his face, and MG gets his own blow in— a kick to the vampire’s knees— but that’s about it before the vampire goes for his chest. 

Kaleb gets there before he can get his hand around MG’s heart and he makes good on his earlier thought. Kaleb extends his fangs, holds the vamp by the arms and digs his teeth in. He rips the vampires throat out. Literally. And while it won’t kill him, it sure as hell will hurt. The vamp screams— a loud, blood curling, awful sound— and falls to the ground but Kaleb doesn’t even notice it. He’s focused on MG, who’s wounds may be healing already but, Kaleb goes to him anyway to help him stay standing. 

MG looks up suddenly, and Kaleb traces his eyeline over to Josie, who looks on the verge of passing out in Rafael’s arms. 

“Jo.” MG breathes, waiting just a moment more for his healing to fully right him before he rushes over to her. 

Kaleb watches MG’s back while he bites into his wrist to give her his blood. 

Across the clearing Lizzie siphons from Hope to do a spell that creates ice, freezing one of the vampires in mid-run. Hope is fighting the leader of the group, who seems to be stronger than the rest of them, but he’s still no match for her. Landon stands alone, one of the vampires slowly approaching him, and he’s looking around to find something to fight with but instead he trips over a rock and falls to the floor. 

Kaleb rushes over without much of a thought and puts himself between Landon and the vampire just as he starts to rush forward for the kill. It earns him a bite to the shoulder that rips out a bit of flesh, but very quickly MG is there, snapping the vampire’s neck and then reaching out to help Landon up. 

They look back just in time to see Hope and Lizzie clasp hands and do a spell that rounds up all the vampires still standing into the middle of the clearing and keeps them still. Lizzie holds the spell while Hope speaks.

“You know, you guys had a good plan. Cutting the power, us splitting up. . . it would have worked. But do you know what your one mistake was?” Hope asks. 

“Other than attacking a group of badass witches, vampires, and wolves.” Lizzie says. 

“And a phoenix!” MG adds. 

“Thanks man.” Landon claps him on the shoulder. 

The vampire leader doesn’t say anything, just glares at Hope and tries to move from her spell. 

“You picked a fight with a Mikaelson.” Hope tells him. 

At that, he laughs. “You?” he shakes his head. “Even if that’s true, the Mikaelson’s haven’t been a threat for years, kid. The power that came with that name before died with Klaus.”

They can all see the anger in Hope. The danger reflected in the glint of the firelight off her eye. Kaleb and MG instinctively take a step back. Raf holds a little tighter onto Josie. Hope smiles in that way she does that means you’ve royally fucked up. 

“ _Incendia._ ” she says while raising her hand up toward them. Three of the four vampires burn— and unable to move they can’t do anything to put the fire out. They burn until they’re ash and their leader remains, alone, with fear in his eyes. 

“Drop the spell.” she tells Lizzie, and she does. 

The vampire breathes in relief that he can move again. Hope takes a step toward him and fixes him with a look that could destroy whole villages. 

“Run.” she tells him. And she doesn’t have to say it twice. 

When he’s out of sight she relaxes, then looks around. “Is everyone okay?” 

“I think we all just want to go to bed.” Josie says. 

There’s a murmur of agreement from everyone else. So, worn out and a little bruised, they make their way back to the cabin. Lizzie wraps an arm around Josie and lets her lean on her. Landon finds his place by Raf’s side, making sure he’s okay. Kaleb keeps a hand on MG’s shoulder the whole walk back. 

Hope just keeps her eyes on the forest and makes sure nothing else is waiting for them until she knows they’re all safely back in the cabin. Lizzie manages to drag her away from the door, but only after they put up a barrier spell. And then she takes Hope’s hand and leads her up the stairs to one of the rooms. 

Josie and Raf gravitate towards each other and disappear. MG and Kaleb are about to go up, too, but they notice Landon hanging back, eying the couch. Kaleb shakes his head and tugs on his shirtsleeve. Silently, the three of them find their way upstairs. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was at this moment I realized, I basically just wrote an episode of Legacies


	4. In Another Happy Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confessions and kisses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new episode day!!

Landon wakes up and finds himself between MG and Kaleb and for a moment he feels like he was at a casual sleepover— or this is what he imagines that would feel like. He never really had any sleepovers when he was younger. But then he remembers all that happened last night and that this was definitely _not_ a casual sleepover. Normal kids play video games all night and drink way too much soda and watch the movies their parents wouldn’t let them watch. 

Landon is, decidedly, not _normal._

Still, he lays there and listens to the two of them sleep for several minutes more while staring at the ceiling. It’s warm, and he’s grateful for their company. He felt so awkward coming along on the trip, but they pulled him into their little group and made him feel like he had a place. 

Eventually, he pulls himself up and, careful not to wake them, climbs out of bed to locate his bag. After changing clothes, he wanders downstairs. The sun streams in through the windows and bathes the living room in soft, golden light. It’s so still, so perfect, and Landon takes a moment to breathe it all in. He thinks this might be the most peaceful he’s felt for ages. He’s not restless or wanting or waiting for something interesting, something _better_ to happen to him. This is life, and he thinks he loves it. 

#

Josie is the first to wake up. She looks over to Rafael beside her, but his back is to her. She wants to reach out, to move over and wrap her arm around his waist and kiss the back of his neck. The images of their first kiss last year flashes through her mind. She wishes she could redo it. She wonders if she’ll ever get the chance. 

But he’d helped her last night. He stayed by her side and didn’t abandon her to the vampire. He carried her through the woods and got her back home and that all has to mean something, right? Or was he just being gallant and gentlemanly? 

Josie slips out of the bed, finds her suitcase, and escapes to take a shower. 

Her perfume lingers all around him. It’s on the pillow beside him, in the bedsheets, in the air. Rafael slips from the bed and even when he changes, he can still smell her on him. He doesn’t think he minds much. 

Because, well, he’s been thinking about their kiss recently. About Josie’s soft lips. He regrets pulling away from her, regrets denying himself that. But he hadn’t been in the right place for a relationship back then. He was trying to figure out where his place was at the school and with the wolves— and then his ex came back from the dead and Landon died for the first time. He hadn’t realized it at the time but putting his attention on Hope was just his way of inadvertently giving himself the space to deal with everything. She was unattainable— someone to focus on who wouldn’t bring the risk of actually reciprocating his feelings. 

But now? Now he’s died and come back and realized that he can’t continue doing this alone. He’s realized that he can’t keep forgetting about his heart. He needs to take the risks and fall and feel because he’s already died once, and the next time will most likely be permanent. 

“Hey.” Josie’s voice pulls him from his thoughts and toward her. 

He smiles. “How are you feeling?” 

She nods. “All good thanks to MG. Not even a scar.” 

They stand there, both unsure, for a moment. 

“Thanks for helping me last night.” she says. 

“Of course.” he shakes his head. 

And then, silence, again. Raf grasps for words but doesn’t know what to say. Should he just speak his mind? Come right out and ask her if she still feels anything for him? Should he wait it out and test the waters? 

“I think Landon is making breakfast, so. . .” she gestures toward the door and starts to turn. 

“Can we start again?” he blurts out. He doesn’t mean to do it, but it gets her attention. 

She turns back around and folds her hands in front of her. “What do you mean?” 

He takes several steps forward, not too much that he’s standing in front of her, but enough that they’re close. She smells sweet, like candy apples. Caramel. 

“I mean I like you. I mean I think you’re cool. I mean we kissed, and I pulled away and I’m sorry.” he says. Is it enough? Does she feel the same? 

Josie is silent for a moment, but then she steps forward, into his space, and gently places her hands on his chest. She looks up at him with those big, honest brown eyes and Raf can’t help but fall for her all over again. 

“You mean, you want to try _us_? Together?” she seems expectant. Hopeful. Could she really want this as much as he does? 

He nods. “That’s exactly what I mean.” 

She lets out a breath, her eyes seem to light up. And then she’s tilting forward on her tiptoes and pressing her lips to his. It’s nothing like their first kiss. This isn’t adrenaline and a way to siphon magic. This isn’t life or death. This is them, standing in a bedroom in a cabin with the sunlight sprinkling dots of light into the room. This is sweet and calm and a question. 

Josie moves her hands up from his chest to his face and he wraps his arms around her and pulls her closer. Eventually they have to stop but Josie rests her forehead on his and closes her eyes. He doesn’t say anything, just closes his eyes as well and stays in the moment as a smile forms on his lips. 

#

Last summer, having nowhere else to go, MG was invited to stay at the Hawkins residence. After much protesting, he relented to sharing Kaleb’s bed with him. Which was fine— MG is small and there was plenty of room, plus he was still fixated on Lizzie. But there were moments, in the quiet late hours or the calm mornings, when MG would become aware of how close they were— almost touching. It would fire up something in the back of his brain that told him this was wrong; couples shared beds, not brothers. A long-forgotten voice from his upbringing saying _you are an abomination._ But he’d shake it from his head and remind himself that’s outdated thinking and platonic friends can share space. 

Now he lays in bed and is the first to wake up, but Landon is between them so it’s _fine_. Nothing to worry about. MG can relax and try to fall back asleep without his brain spiraling down pathways he doesn’t want to think about right now. 

But then Landon gets up and leaves and MG is left with nothing but space between him and Kaleb. His _treacherous_ brain keeps reminding him of all that Kaleb did last night to protect him. How he tore out that vampire’s throat just for hurting him. And MG knows that he shouldn’t be finding that _romantic_. He shouldn’t be endeared by it. He knows that Kaleb is exactly the type of vampire he rages against— that he himself tries so hard not to be. 

But he’s sweet, too. He’s. . . heroic. And he knows what he believes in and he’ll defend those beliefs with the same cutthroat viciousness he defends those he cares about. He goes too far for some, but he never crosses the line— a line that he has clearly defined for himself and others. He’s. . . well, he’s Batman and MG is the Superman trying to tell him to step out of the dark arches of Gotham and into the light of Metropolis. But that could never _work_ , Batman is too engrained into his corrupted city and if he left it would surely fall apart and, oh, he’s back to thinking that they’re just _too_ different. Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne could never swap cities— Metropolis is too shiny and and there’s nowhere to hide and Gotham is too sharp and busy and—

“Are you watching me sleep?” Kaleb’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts and MG realizes that he had, in fact, been staring at Kaleb on the other side of that empty space in the bed. 

“No.” MG says. 

Kaleb’s eyes are still closed but he can obviously tell that MG is lying. A smile pulls up the corners of his lips. “Creepy.” he says playfully. 

“I wasn’t staring.” MG tells him. 

Kaleb opens his eyes then. He could tell that MG was awake from the way he was breathing but the staring thing was a complete guess. 

“No I know what you were doing: thinking way too much about something.” Kaleb tells him. MG furrows his brow, which makes Kaleb rolls his eyes. He reaches out and taps MG’s temple and says, “there’s always something going on in here.” 

He pulls away. He’s a very touch inclined person, but he knows not everyone appreciates that. So he retracts and returns his hand to his own side of the bed. 

“So what has you thinking so hard?” he asks. 

MG shakes his head and turns onto his back. “It’s nothing.” 

It’s cute, Kaleb thinks, how he can have whole worlds in his head troubling him and he won’t say a word about them. 

“Oh, come on, man. You can tell me anything.” Kaleb tells him. And he watches as MG gets quiet, starts to think about it, and Kaleb allows him the time to think because it gives him time to look at MG.

He’s no longer bruised or bleeding, his vampire nature won’t let those scars stay, but Kaleb remembers the places on his face where he was bleeding last night. Where the skin was, for just a moment, blossoming blue and purple patterns. Kaleb wants to reach out and touch his face, trace the places where he was cracked open, content with the knowledge that MG is safe now. That he will be safe for a very long time if Kaleb has anything to say about it.

Eventually, MG makes up his mind. Unfortunately, he decides not to say anything, instead he rolls over and sits up on the edge of the bed, leaving Kaleb to stare at his back when he says, “it’s really nothing. It doesn’t matter.”

Kaleb sits up and reaches out, needing that contact, and places a gentle hand on MG’s shoulder. “MG—” 

“You should really stop _doing_ that.” MG hisses, but he doesn’t move.

“Doing what?” 

MG turns his head, not so much that he’s twisting around to look at Kaleb, but enough that Kaleb can hear him more clearly. “Touching me.” he says. 

Kaleb tries not to smirk, and he tries not to be obnoxious about it either. He wants to say _oh, really?_ and then wrap his arms around MG just to see him squirm, but instead he just squeezes MG’s shoulder and asks, “why?” 

Because they’ve been playing this game for a while now— dancing around each other. Especially since Lizzie kissed MG and then said nothing about it. But whenever one of them would take a step forward the other would take a step back and now they’re _here_ : 

MG shakes off Kaleb’s hand and stands quickly, putting distance between the two of them like they’re diseased. He almost backs himself against the wall, but he stops, staring at Kaleb like he’s an unlit match. Or an unfired gun. Destructive— but only if an outside force demands it. 

MG still seems hesitant, finger on the trigger but unsure if he wants to pull it. He wrings his hands and Kaleb just waits. Until, “I think I have feelings for you.” MG’s voice is quiet. 

Kaleb stands, not explosive, like MG probably thought, but smug. “Oh, really?” he says now. 

MG looks terrified as he says, “yeah?” 

“Man, I’ve been waiting for you to figure that out for weeks now.” Kaleb tells him. Just to see him squirm. 

“What?” 

Kaleb laughs, takes a few steps forward, then kisses MG on the cheek. When he pulls back, he cheekily says, “I think I have feelings for you too.” 

MG just blinks, stunned, and so Kaleb backs away and toward the door. “Come on, I smell someone cooking.” 

But before he can get too far, he feels MG’s hand in his own, intertwining their fingers like they’d both wanted for so long. He grips Kaleb tightly, tugs him back, puts a hand on Kaleb’s cheek when he turns back around and then kisses him. And there’s that bravery that Kaleb loves so much about him. There’s a confidence in the kiss even as they stumble into it. Kaleb may be dead, but he feels electric where MG is holding him. Kaleb brings his other hand up to wrap around MG’s waist, but as soon as he does MG is pulling out of the embrace and heading toward the door. 

“Come on, slowpoke, I’m hungry.” he throws over his shoulder, leaving Kaleb as the stunned one. 

#

Hope’s head is on her chest. Lizzie’s arms are wrapped around her. Hope isn’t sure when she wakes up, or when she becomes aware that Lizzie is also awake, but the two of them don’t move or speak. Everything is perfect right now. Hope doesn’t want to shatter it. 

Lizzie does, though, when she stretches one arm up and yawns. Hope looks up at her when Lizzie looks down. 

“Good morning.” Lizzie says with a soft smile. 

Hope groans. “Don’t remind me.” 

Lizzie chuckles. And as much as she would like to, Hope doesn’t go back to sleep. 

“Do we have to tell your dad about the vampires attacking?” Hope asks. 

“Ugh,” Lizzie rolls her eyes. “Definitely not.” 

“Good.” Hope says, then sighs as she tightens the grip she has around Lizzie. 

Hope closes her eyes and breathes in deeply. She loves this. _This_ is easy. It’s like slipping into a well-fitted coat. Warm, comfortable, reliable. It feels like this, laying here in Lizzie’s arms, is always where she was meant to be. 

“Should we talk about our kiss?” Lizzie asks softly. 

Hope opens her eyes again. “Why? Do you have notes for me?” 

Lizzie rolls her eyes. “No—” 

“Well then I say there’s nothing to talk about.” Hope shrugs as best she can while lying down. 

“So this is—” 

Hope chuckles. “Do I have to formally _ask_ you to be my girlfriend?” 

Lizzie hesitates a moment. Then shakes her head. “As long as I get to keep you in my arms, I guess not.” 

Hope smiles, shifts up to kiss her chin, says, “good.” 

Hope has the idea to stay in bed forever— to finally relax after all the life-or-death stuff. Lizzie seems to mirror that idea, because she wraps her arms around Hope more tightly and settles in. They will talk about things later, but for now they can just lie here with the sunlight streaming in and forget all about the things they have yet to do. 

Hope closes her eyes and fits her head in the space beneath Lizzie’s chin. Lizzie is solid and warm and though she’s a little more breakable, a little more fragile, Hope has more confidence in her ability to stay alive. It’s easy to be a hero, a martyr, to throw yourself into the line of fire if you know that you will likely be fine. It’s much harder to do the same when that’s not the case. 

There’s a clattering from downstairs that makes Hope open her eyes. Her heart stutters, thinking that something else is here to attack them, but a second later she hears laughter and voices talking and she calms down. 

“I think we might have to get out of bed now.” Lizzie says. “It sounds like they’re making breakfast down there.” 

Hope nods, yawns, and then regretfully extracts herself from Lizzie. But Lizzie reaches over before she can get out of bed fully and pulls her down so she can give Hope a chaste kiss on the lips, which makes Hope smile all the way to her eyes. 

#

“Hey, sleepyheads!” Josie says when Lizzie and Hope make their way downstairs. 

Josie and Raf are on the barstools with plates of pancakes in front of them. Landon is by the stove cooking while MG sits on an unoccupied corner of the counter with Kaleb leaning against the counter next to him and both of them have blood bags. 

“Has your family been down here in a while?” Landon asks as Lizzie grabs a plate and one of the pancakes he’s making. 

Josie shakes her head. “Not since mom was around more.” 

“Why?” Lizzie asks as she gets a plate for Hope as well. 

Landon shrugs, “Someone’s been keeping this cabin stocked up. There was even fresh blood.” 

“Weird.” Josie says. 

“What are we doing today?” MG asks the group. 

“Honestly? I just want to go home.” Hope says. 

There’s a murmur of agreement around her. It seems the events of the night before has drained them all. 

“Besides.” Kaleb starts, “I don’t think I could handle another round of _hide-and-seek_.” 

“I think we have some board games in a closet around here.” Lizzie looks around as if she could spot them. 

“ _Why_ didn’t you offer any of them up last night?” Landon blinks at her.

She smiles, “Because _I_ wanted to play a drinking game.” 

“Still, if you had brought up board games we probably wouldn’t have gotten split up.” Rafael points out. 

“Oh, don’t pin the vampire attack on me.” Lizzie scoffs. 

But there isn’t any malice in any of their words. The group breaks out into conversation until everyone has finished their breakfast and then they make their way through the cabin gathering all their things. 

It’s midday by the time they have everything packed back into the car. Lizzie is driving again but this time Hope is in the passenger seat. Josie and Raf take the middle, leaving Landon, Kaleb, and MG in the back. It’s an easier drive back, both because they all laugh together and trade off music and because they’re more at ease with each other. They joke about the events last night and MG recounts it excitedly in exaggerated detail. 

They’re having so much fun that they forget the boys weren’t supposed to come and Ric raises an eyebrow when they all enter the school laughing. He doesn’t say anything though, and the seven of them, reluctant to leave one another, find a place in the school to continue to hang out. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the next few hours we can all pretend that this fic is canon without having actual canon to claim otherwise <3

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think you can see the shed from the driveway but I wanted to mention it anyway.


End file.
